Just the Way you Are
by she is brighter
Summary: AU: Snape rushed into the bathroom and stopped when he saw myself screaming at my reflection. "Hermione, relax. Everything will be okay." I turned and faced him. "No, it will not be okay. I LOOK like HER!"  HGxBL no romantic pairing.


Story Disclaimer:

I don't own the Harry Potter Series. They belong to the wonderfully talented JK Rowling. I only own their decisions henceforth. No money is being made on this publication.

The Beginning:

First, let me start of by stating that contrary to former belief, I have not always been crazy. There was once a time in my life when I was quite sane. However, that was a long time ago. My hair hasn't always been frizzed out; my eyes haven't always been crazed. I was once beautiful, Black perfection, but all of that went away when I lost the one thing that mattered the most to me.

Now, everyone knows I'm a deatheater, but what isn't well known is that I wasn't always one. You see, I had a lover and he was wonderful. Unfortunately, he was a squib, so my father didn't approve our relationship, and neither did the Dark Lord.

The third worst day of my life was when I was called into a dark revel and my love was tortured and killed before my eyes.

The second worst day of my life was when I had to give up my daughter. The day my love died, I found out I was pregnant. However, I knew the Dark Lord would never approve of me keeping the child, so I gave her up.

The first worst day of my life you ask? Well, that was when I found her again.

The Middle:

Chapter o1:

BLPOV:

"I SWEAR IT, I SWEAR IT, I SWEAR IT, I SWEAR IT!" She screamed, writing under the power of my spell.

"I don't believe you, Mudblood. I'll ask again. Did you break into my vault?" I asked, my voice betraying no emotion.

"NO! I SWEAR WE DIDN'T." She screamed, louder this time. She was bleeding everywhere, a job well done, if I do say so myself.

And so it continued, for I don't know how long. I lifted the curse, prepared to ask her again when she staggered to her feet. Her hair was blood caked, her eyes were wild, and she couldn't stand up straight, but somehow she still managed to put the necessary amount of distain into a glare.

"I did not break into your vault!" She shrieked. It was then that I felt it: the pulse of magic that signifies a charm breaking.

My eyes widened as I felt it. I just spent god knows how long torturing my daughter.

"GO! Get out of here. You have to leave before he finds you." I yanked my comb out of my hair and pointed my wand at it.

"_Portus_." I hissed. The sapphire and diamond comb glowed brightly with the addition of the charm, and when it dimmed I gave it to her.

"Take it and get out of here. We don't have much time." She looked at me, frozen for a second before she lunged for the portkey.

Just as she disappeared, the door swung open. "Where issss the Mudblood?"

I knelt, bowing my eyes. "She's escaped master. She had a portkey disguised as a hair accessory on her and disappeared before I could catch her. She didn't get anything out of the vault though. I learned that much."

"Sssshe esssscaped? You have failed me Bella. _Crucio_!"

Chapter o2:

HPOV:

I was so sore, but it wasn't as painful as the last time. I think she must have fused a healing charm on the comb when she made into a portkey, if that's even possible.

The portkey deposited me right outside of my house. I have no idea how she knew where I lived, but at the current moment, I was too sore to care.

I firecalled Snape for some help, and to my surprise he was only too happy to answer my call. "Miss Granger, I know you have been helping out in the classroom, but it doesn't mean that I can answer to your beck and call at every hour of the –. Miss Granger, What happened to you tonight? Where did you get that comb?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." At his inclined eyebrow, I sighed and continued. "Bellatrix kidnapped me when I left Flourish and Botts and I was tortured for information. Apparently something was stolen out of her vault, and she thought Harry did it. I got angry and screamed at her and she freaked out, turned her comb into a portkey, and let me leave."

Now both eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "Miss Granger, you accepted a portkey from a Deatheater. Do you know how dangerous that is." He handed me several different vials of potions and I drank them down, shuddering violently at the taste.

I sat down shakily in a chair. She gave me a portkey to my house. She knows where I live. She can come whenever she wants. "SHIT! She knows where I live. What do I do? I have to move, get my parents out of here…"

"Miss Granger, you will calm down, but most importantly you will –." He stopped. "Hermione. Have you looked in the mirror since I came in?"

I froze, what did she do to me. I jumped to my feet and ran for a mirror. What I knew I looked like and what I saw were totally different though, so I did the first thing that popped into my mind. I screamed.

Chapter o3:

HPOV:

Snape rushed into the bathroom and stopped when he saw myself screaming at my reflection. "Hermione, relax. Everything will be okay."

I turned and faced him. "No, it will not be okay. I LOOK like HER!"

He nodded. "Yes, but did you ever think that was because you were supposed to. Come with me, I have to show you something."

I took his outstretched hand as he led me into the family room. He pointed to the couch. "Sit." He instructed. I listened, looking at him curiously.

He took out his wand and after some impressive wand work, said the words, "Prosapia nemus," while pointing it at me.

To my shock, it showed me my lineage. Instead of Jean and Robert Granger, I saw Bellatrix Black and Siberius Snape.

"You are my niece. All this time, and I never knew." He looked stunned. Not that I blamed him of course, I felt stunned myself.

I looked at the mantle and saw all the pictures of my parents and me over the years. Bushy, brown hair, chocolate eyes, sharp tongue, it was the same in every picture. I reached up and felt my hair, not longer bushy and brown, it fell in perfect ebony spirals to my lower back. My eyes were a blue-grey instead of chocolate. I took a deep breath. I was truly not the old me anymore.

"That's why she was so flustered. When the pulse of magic exploded from me, it did away with the glamour she placed. She knew who I was." Snape nodded.

"Obviously. Hermione, I know your parents are in America, and the Weasley's are in Egypt, but if you need anything send a Patronus. I'll come right over." I nodded, and stood to give him a hug.

"Thanks for everything, I'll talk to you soon."

Chapter o4:

HPOV:

The next morning, I woke up to an almost empty room. I use the term almost, because perched on my dresser was a white eagle with blue wings.

As soon as I moved, it flew away.

Throughout the day, I randomly saw the same eagle owl in the strangest of places.

After the fifth time I saw it, I decided it was high time I ignored it. So I turned on the television. Only, I wish I didn't. My parent's plane crashed on the way to America. No found survivors.

I turned off the television and climbed upstairs to curl in bed. I don't know how long I was there for, but judging by the amount of tissues surrounding me, pretty many.

My wallowing was cut short by an incessant tapping on my balcony door. It was the eagle again: just what I needed, not.

I grabbed my wand off the nightstand and pointed it to the multitude of tissues surrounding me. "_Scourgify_." I muttered, cleaning up the mess.

I waved my wand at the door, "ianuapatefacio." The door slid open, and the eagle swooped in, perching itself on the foot of my bed.

I stared at it. "You can transform back Bella. I promise I won't blast you into next week."

The eagle chirped indignantly at me, as if that utter notion was ridiculous, but transformed into the stunning physique of Bellatrix Black.

"Hermione, I'm so sorry about what happened. Do you need anything?" I shook my head.

"An explanation would be nice." I found myself whispering.

"Well, this could take a while." And so she began telling me the story, from the beginning.

Chapter o5:

HPOV:

If you told me two weeks ago that Bellatrix Black would be sitting in my room telling me about my life, I'd hex you into next week.

However, this is not two weeks ago, this is the current time, and she is sitting on my bed telling me everything I wish I knew before.

"…so the only thing I could do is invoke the most powerful concealment charm I knew and entrust you to the care of muggles. If the Dark Lord found you, it would be both of our lives." She said, relaxing at the foot of the bed now, as if we were best friends since birth.

I nodded, following the story this far. "The only thing I don't understand is why you were marked if you didn't want to be."

Her eyes glazed over for a second, and I knew she was reliving a horrid memory. "I was marked as punishment for fraternizing with someone of lesser blood. That reminds me."

She took hold of my arm, the same one she carved "Mudblood" into, and muttering something intelligibly under her breath, my arm healed of the scar.

She looked at me then, her blue eyes filled with pain. "Oh my Mia, I'm so sorry for everything. If there had been a way to keep you, I would have. Know that, dear child. For I love you more than anything. It was my only wish that you were safe and well. When your magic pulsated that night, I wanted to Crucio myself for what I did to you. I'm so sorry love, can you forgive me?"

I took in her total appearance as she was at this moment and compared it to what I saw her as before. She was not crazy, she was not insane, and she also was not ugly. I smiled. She was my mother.

"Of course I can. You didn't know. We need to talk to Dumbledore though. He needs to be in the know about what's been going on."

She smiled grimly. "But of course. Lets go now."


End file.
